Incurring PM’s wrath for uniting oppn: CM

TIRUCHY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had not brought any project to Tamil Nadu, has been visiting the state frequently and has been targeting DMK everywhere since I united all the political parties opposed to the BJP and formed the INDIA bloc, said DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin in Tiruvarur on Saturday.

Campaigning for the Thanjavur DMK candidate S Murasoli and Nagapattinam CPI candidate V Selvaraj at Koradacherry in Tiruvarur, Stalin said that the Lok Sabha polls was not a fight against the BJP alone but to safeguard democracy, secularism, diverse culture, constitution and livelihood of all sections, especially the poor. “If BJP comes to power again, then federalism will face a threat and Tamil Nadu will disappear and, the live example for this is Jammu and Kashmir,” Stalin said.

Charging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to power in 2014, misused the government and collapsed the country and the Constitution. He distracted every infrastructure in the country. “So, if the BJP is voted to power again, it is certainly not good for TN.”

He stated that the Dravidian model government had fulfilled almost all the promises made during the Assembly polls and many new schemes like Muthalvarin Mugavari, which eased the process of obtaining patta, Tamil Pudhalvan scheme, which helps male students to get a monetary benefit of Rs 1,000, and Kalaingarin Kanavu Illam scheme were also launched.

“This apart, the DMK’s Lok Sabha election manifesto has a lot of tall promises and all of them will be certainly implemented once the INDIA bloc forms the government at the Centre,” said Stalin.

Taking a dig at AIADMK, Stalin said Edappadi K Palaniswami has been holding the shoes of Modi until in power and blindly supported all projects introduced by the BJP-led NDA government and thus the CAA, which denied citizenship benefits to Sri Lankan Tamils, was passed only after AIADMK supported it.

Stalin asked why EPS did inquire about the status of AIIMS in Madurai for which the foundation stone was laid in 2019, when he was in power. “You (EPS) are enacting a drama for the BJP now,” he said.

Though Chennai and the Southern districts were struggling due to floods after the unprecedented rains recently, the Prime Minister neither visited the affected areas nor released any funds. “We demanded a relief of Rs 37,000 crore to set right the damages caused by the floods. Even the Defence Minister visited Tamil Nadu, Central teams visited Tamil Nadu, but not a single paisa was released,” he said.

Stalin stated that he was instrumental in uniting the opposition parties under one umbrella – INDIA and that is the reason for the strong attacks by Prime Minister on the DMK. “Modi was dreaming that there was no enemy for him but when the INDIA bloc was formed, he lost his sleep and so started accusing the DMK. Our cadre will put more field work once there are more attacks”, Stalin said.